On Sunday, June 14th, the "[KSR] Robot Workshop" team, which is working as part of our university's project-based education program, participated in the "NHK Student Robocon 2026 - ABU Asia-Pacific Robocon Representative Selection Competition" held at EBARA WAVE Arena Ota (Ota City General Gymnasium: Tokyo).
This competition brings together students from universities and technical colleges across Japan to compete in robot design, development, and operation based on a different challenge each year. By generating their own ideas and engaging in trial and error in robot development, students hone their manufacturing skills, teamwork abilities, and problem-solving skills.
This tournament featured 18 universities from across Japan that had passed the first and second rounds of video screening, and our university was making its first appearance.
The robot workshop is Department of Smart Communication Engineering Faculty of Science and Engineering EngineeringProfessor Nobuhiro Ushimi Under the guidance of [Name of instructor], this is a practical educational program in which students from different faculties and departments collaborate on robot development. A distinctive feature is that students from humanities and arts fields also participate, developing team activities that utilize their respective expertise.
The team began preparations in October of last year, spending eight months designing, building, and refining their aircraft in preparation for the competition. In the qualifying group, they competed against Toyohashi University of Technology and Osaka Institute of Technology. Although they finished with one win and one loss and did not advance to the final league, the team fought tenaciously as a united force. Despite being their first appearance, it was a valuable opportunity for them to learn a great deal and gain experience by competing against strong schools from all over the country.
The leader of the participating members, Tenyu Nakamura (3rd year, Department of Mechanical Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering Engineering / Fukuoka Institute of Technology High School), said, "We ended up with one win and one loss, and were unable to advance to the final league, which is a disappointing result. We were not able to get as far as setting up the book (box) in the actual competition, so there are still areas for improvement, but we were able to participate in our second year of trying, and we were very encouraged by the positive feedback we received on the design of our machine and the mechanism for assembling the spear. Next year, we will work even harder with the goal of winning the championship."
Our university will continue to actively support students' proactive challenges and creative activities through practical education that integration of humanities, sciences, and arts.
[Robot Workshop/ Faculty of Science and Engineering]
